Multiple MLB Insiders Link Twins and Yankees on Ryan Jeffers Trade

[TopGunn#22]

It's essential that Jeffers be traded and I think it will be to the Yankees,  As a Scott Boras client, once Jeffers got to this season without a contract extension, he was never coming back.  The fact that he's having his best season ever is a gift.  It's time to leverage his value when it's at its highest.

The acute need at Catcher by the Yankees brings it all together.  And those that have suggested adding Lewis to the deal to shoot for a higher return are spot on.  Lewis appears to have finally achieved a heartbeat, and as a result his value is climbing.  

There's no doubt at all that the Twins should be sellers at the deadline.  Bring on the youth movement.  It's time to start re-balancing this roster with an influx of young talent like 1982 and look forward.  The trade deadline will also come AFTER the MLB draft, so that should also help when determining which Yankee prospects we target, as well as other teams prospects with the other trades that are sure to come. 

[Whammy]

17 hours ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

 

Sorry. I couldn't help chuckling..

I mean, a top 100 prospect for a 2 month rental feels like asking for the moon.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

A lot can happen in two months in the weak American League Central.  Is that really worth getting some prospect who has been languishing in the Yankee minor league system? Keep Jeffers and keep pounding.

They are currently at 9% odds to make the postseason and 0.1% odds to win the World Series. Does this look like a team that can go 52-35 the rest of the way?

[chpettit19]

11 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I can actually see that being a decent option IF there is a 2027 season. Their payroll is going to be SO LOW next year regardless, and no such thing as a bad 1 year deal for the most part.

Just saying, if you trade him, you have to get AT LEAST the value of the comp pick he would bring back by being offered the QO no? Can't trade him for less.

Yes, 23 mil for a catcher is a bad 1-year deal. What's the goal with that? You wouldn't be able to trade him on that deal, and you can't improve your team when you're paying Jeffers and Caratini 30 mil combined. Spending that much on catchers would be awful resource management. There are so many better ways to spend 30 mil on any payroll the Twins could reasonably be expected to have next year.

And, no, you don't have to get at least the value of the comp pick because other teams wouldn't believe you're actually going to QO a catcher for 23 million. And catchers are not guys who get 50+ mil deals so the comp pick would be an early 3rd anyways.

The Twins are not getting any name anyone is going to be impressed with on the surface. He simply isn't worth that much in trade as an injured rental.

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I would rate Jeffers as a better trade chip than Nelson Cruz. He should be able to return a couple of their highly rated Double-A starting pitchers.
 

If the Twins want a top 3 Yankees prospect they will probably need to bundle Jeffers with Royce Lewis.

if people here really hate Volpe they’re probably going to be disappointed with Marek Houston.

Cruz is probably a pretty good comp in terms of value. I wouldn't consider Ryan and Strotman "highly rated" starting pitchers, though. They were ranked in the 10-20 range in terms of system rankings. That's probably what the Twins, and fans, should be expecting for Jeffers. 2 guys in the 10-20 range of the Yankees system.

Kyle Carr, Brock Selvidge, Cade Smith, Jace Avina, Rory Fox, Chase Hampton, Brendan Beck. These are probably the names Twins fans should start looking at in the Yankee system if they're expecting a Jeffers to Yankees deal.

Ryan being about a 10th ranked system guy when that trade went down is a good reminder to people that it doesn't have to all end up doom and gloom just because they didn't get a guy on the lists we all look at. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

52 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

They are currently at 9% odds to make the postseason and 0.1% odds to win the World Series. Does this look like a team that can go 52-35 the rest of the way?

Nope, but never give up. As Buck said, "It's all about winning."

[DJL44]

Just now, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Nope, but never give up. As Buck said, "It's all about winning."

That’s a great way to always finish the season with 75 wins.

[DJL44]

23 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Kyle Carr, Brock Selvidge, Cade Smith, Jace Avina, Rory Fox, Chase Hampton, Brendan Beck. These are probably the names Twins fans should start looking at in the Yankee system if they're expecting a Jeffers to Yankees deal.

They could also end up with Pico Kohn, Thatcher Hurd or Bryce Cunningham. As you said, these ratings have big error bars on them. They’re all grade 40-45 prospects and the Yankees should not be shy about trading any of their grade 40-45 prospects if it gets them in the World Series.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Paul Walerius said:

Who says he won't sign an extension?

Jeffers will 100% test the free agent market. The Twins will never offer enough to keep him off the market. If they were willing to spend that much they would already have extended him years ago.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

Cruz is probably a pretty good comp in terms of value. I wouldn't consider Ryan and Strotman "highly rated" starting pitchers, though. They were ranked in the 10-20 range in terms of system rankings. That's probably what the Twins, and fans, should be expecting for Jeffers. 2 guys in the 10-20 range of the Yankees system.

Kyle Carr, Brock Selvidge, Cade Smith, Jace Avina, Rory Fox, Chase Hampton, Brendan Beck. These are probably the names Twins fans should start looking at in the Yankee system if they're expecting a Jeffers to Yankees deal.

Ryan being about a 10th ranked system guy when that trade went down is a good reminder to people that it doesn't have to all end up doom and gloom just because they didn't get a guy on the lists we all look at. 

I'd take any two pitchers in that range. 

[chpettit19]

12 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'd take any two pitchers in that range. 

Me too. Get 2 well thought of arms and do your best to turn them into MLBers. 

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'd take any two pitchers in that range. 

Just for context, Twins prospect comps would be Riley Quick, Andrew Morris, James Ellwanger, Dasan Hill, Charlee Soto. The Twins could always use two more arms of that caliber.

[twinstalker]

Ryan Jeffers, broken hamate bone, out 6-8 weeks.

Jose Ramirez, broken hamate bone, out 4-6 weeks.

So, I guess we know a broken hamate bone means a player is out exactly 6 weeks.

[ashbury]

34 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

Ryan Jeffers, broken hamate bone, out 6-8 weeks.

Jose Ramirez, broken hamate bone, out 4-6 weeks.

So, I guess we know a broken hamate bone means a player is out exactly 6 weeks.

[Cory Engelhardt]

3 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Yes, 23 mil for a catcher is a bad 1-year deal. What's the goal with that? You wouldn't be able to trade him on that deal, and you can't improve your team when you're paying Jeffers and Caratini 30 mil combined. Spending that much on catchers would be awful resource management. There are so many better ways to spend 30 mil on any payroll the Twins could reasonably be expected to have next year.

And, no, you don't have to get at least the value of the comp pick because other teams wouldn't believe you're actually going to QO a catcher for 23 million. And catchers are not guys who get 50+ mil deals so the comp pick would be an early 3rd anyways.

The Twins are not getting any name anyone is going to be impressed with on the surface. He simply isn't worth that much in trade as an injured rental.

Ok, you know what, you changed my mind. I agree. 

[jorgenswest]

4 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Cruz is probably a pretty good comp in terms of value. I wouldn't consider Ryan and Strotman "highly rated" starting pitchers, though. They were ranked in the 10-20 range in terms of system rankings. That's probably what the Twins, and fans, should be expecting for Jeffers. 2 guys in the 10-20 range of the Yankees system.

Kyle Carr, Brock Selvidge, Cade Smith, Jace Avina, Rory Fox, Chase Hampton, Brendan Beck. These are probably the names Twins fans should start looking at in the Yankee system if they're expecting a Jeffers to Yankees deal.

Ryan being about a 10th ranked system guy when that trade went down is a good reminder to people that it doesn't have to all end up doom and gloom just because they didn't get a guy on the lists we all look at. 

The Rays system at the time was very deep. Both Ryan and Strotman were FV45 in the midseason report. That is far different from this year’s Yankee system. They had two FV45 pitchers entering the season in Bryce Cunningham and Chase Hampton. Both will probably drop in the midseason report.

[chpettit19]

47 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

The Rays system at the time was very deep. Both Ryan and Strotman were FV45 in the midseason report. That is far different from this year’s Yankee system. They had to FV45 pitchers entering the season in Bryce Cunningham and Chase Hampton. Both will probably drop in the midseason report.

Yeah, I'm not going to concern myself over 40 vs 45 and which source ranked them as which. Neither Ryan nor Strotman were viewed as anything special. There is absolutely variance between systems, and they're not all created equal, but once you get outside the top 20ish and then 100ish you're getting into incredibly deep and wide pools of prospects.

Fangraphs had Ryan as a multi-inning reliever for the start of the 2022 season. Strotman was down to a 40FV. The point is that the Twins aren't getting any of the Yankees (or any team's) top guys for Jeffers. They're going to get people like Ryan and Strotman. Guys who aren't taking top 5 spots in our system when they get here. 40 and 45 FV grades for minor leaguers are not that big of distinctions. And they vary by source. If people here are expecting to recognize the names that come back, they're going to be disappointed. Cunnigham and Hampton may drop and others may go up. The job of the FO is to find the best pile of middle-ground guys that they can. Then build one up to be more than 40 or 45 graded guys in the future.

[terrydactyls]

7 hours ago, Paul Walerius said:

Who says he won't sign an extension?

 

I'm not sure, but IMHO everyone but you.

[Andy MacPhail]

I put in a Jeffers/NYY trade at BTV a couple of months ago & got a surprisingly good response. The need & means are there for NYY, Twins can't sign Jeffers & he's having a record year. I hope Zoll can swing a good deal once Jeffers gets back on track. IMO, it's a perfect storm.

[arby58]

On 6/17/2026 at 1:38 PM, DJL44 said:

So what would it take for the Yankees to get Jeffers? They wouldn’t be the only bidder.

I assume one of George Lombard, Elmer Rodriguez or Carlos Lagrange would be sufficient. Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe are interesting MLB level players. There is also some Double-A starting pitching.

Also, would the Twins make it a blockbuster and add Royce Lewis to the deal?

I have no idea why Lewis would make it a blockbuster. The only names that would qualify from the Twins are Ryan or Buxton.

[ashbury]

9 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Ok, you know what, you changed my mind 

[Cory Engelhardt]

6 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I can't find it, but there is a spot in the good place where (I'm paraphrasing) Michael says seeing a double rainbow is about as rare as someone on the internet saying "You know what? You've convinced me I was wrong!"

I suppose today is a double rainbow day :)

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I can't find it, but there is a spot in the good place where (I'm paraphrasing) Michael says seeing a double rainbow is about as rare as someone on the internet saying "You know what? You've convinced me I was wrong!"

I suppose today is a double rainbow day :)

I thought it was impossible to change anyone's mind at TD, but look at you, you proved me wrong!

[Cory Engelhardt]

4 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I thought it was impossible to change anyone's mind at TD, but look at you, you proved me wrong!

Only the best people can be open minded and willing to learn from both good and bad things happening right? I guess we all need to learn how to do that at some point. 

Have a great day!

[dcswede]

Only trade players you don't want. Dealing major league regulars for prospects almost never works out. I'm not saying they absolutely shouldn't trade Jeffers (or Ryan or Buxton) - but only if he doesn't have a place in their plans.

[Greglw3]

On 6/18/2026 at 7:14 AM, tarheeltwinsfan said:

If the Twins trade Jeffers, they will be trading away more than a really good catcher. They will also be trading away hope and will be disrespecting the remaining Twins players, coaches, manager and fans.  A lot can happen in two months in the weak American League Central.  Is that really worth getting some prospect who has been languishing in the Yankee minor league system? Keep Jeffers and keep pounding.

I agree with you 1000%. Derek Shelton doesn’t deserve the disrespect nor does Grady Sizemore, Latroy Hawkins, Byron Buxton and so on. Tom Pohlad said he would change, spend and be competitive so let him try to extend Jeffers in the next month or two.

The Twins are sitting on a rapidly ascending Gabriel Gonzalez, a stud young hitter in Hendry Mendez, a potential perennial all star in Jenkins, a superb athlete in Kaelen Culpepper, AN on base machine in Emmanuel Rodriguez, Mick Abel, Kendry Rojas, the enticing potential of Prielipp and his slider, and maybe Zebby and they are ALL right on the cusp. Any one or more of those players could contribute to a Twins push this season and the ascendent offense needs Jeffers and, I would argue the rising Keaschall is a big key.

I actually can envision a scenario where Derek Shelton wins AL Manager of the year award. He’s been beyond my wildest dreams as a manager so far.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

9 hours ago, greglw333 said:

I agree with you 1000%. Derek Shelton doesn’t deserve the disrespect nor does Grady Sizemore, Latroy Hawkins, Byron Buxton and so on. Tom Pohlad said he would change, spend and be competitive so let him try to extend Jeffers in the next month or two.

The Twins are sitting on a rapidly ascending Gabriel Gonzalez, a stud young hitter in Hendry Mendez, a potential perennial all star in Jenkins, a superb athlete in Kaelen Culpepper, AN on base machine in Emmanuel Rodriguez, Mick Abel, Kendry Rojas, the enticing potential of Prielipp and his slider, and maybe Zebby and they are ALL right on the cusp. Any one or more of those players could contribute to a Twins push this season and the ascendent offense needs Jeffers and, I would argue the rising Keaschall is a big key.

I actually can envision a scenario where Derek Shelton wins AL Manager of the year award. He’s been beyond my wildest dreams as a manager so far.

I love this post Greg.  Truly needs to be given a check plus a smiley face.  I agree about Shelton.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

On 6/18/2026 at 8:42 AM, Paul Walerius said:

Who says he won't sign an extension?

 

 

On 6/17/2026 at 8:24 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Different people. Also, some are only unsure of one of the trades. Also, why would you keep Jeffers and get nothing?

By keeping Jeffers the Twins get a better chance of winning the AL Central this year. That is not "nothing".

[Mike Sixel]

19 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

 

By keeping Jeffers the Twins get a better chance of winning the AL Central this year. That is not "nothing".

Sure, but we disagree strongly on the odds of that.....

[USAFChief]

22 hours ago, ashbury said:

I thought it was impossible to change anyone's mind at TD, but look at you, you proved me wrong!